Poetry Africa reveals programme for 30th festival
The 30th Poetry Africa programme will run from October 5-9 at the Durban Playhouse and venues across the city.
The University of KwaZulu Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts revealed the Poetry Africa programme for its 30th edition, running from October 5-9 at the Durban Playhouse, and venues across the city.
Over the week, the festival is expected to bring together stage performances, poetry slams, industry panels, workshops and a schools programme, anchored by the 5th World Poetry Slam Championship, which brings 40 slam poets from 40 nations and five continents to Durban.
This year’s edition lands alongside a cluster of significant anniversaries: 50 years since the 1976 Soweto Youth Uprising, 30 years since the first public hearings of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and 30 years since the adoption of the 1996 Constitution (including Section 16’s guarantee of freedom of expression and creative freedom).
“1976, 1996, the TRC represent an unfinished conversation about who gets to speak and be heard in this country. Poetry Africa exists to keep that conversation alive, because freedom of expression is a responsibility we renew every time a poet takes the stage,” said Centre for Creative Arts Director Ismail Mahomed.
“Every one of these anniversaries is really about a voice: a generation’s, a nation’s, a poet’s. This year’s theme, Every Word a Street, Every Voice a City, asks what we build when those voices are finally given room,” said curator Siphindile Hlongwa.
Gracing the stages will be featured poet Koleka Putuma and performances from Ana More (Ukraine), Haroun Amri (Algeria), Nanda (Gabon), Steel the Poet (South Africa), Dr Gcina Mhlophe, and celebrated Jamaican-Canadian dub poet and playwright D’bi Young Anitafrika.
Alongside the performances, Poetry Africa’s industry programme features panel discussions and workshops marking 30 years of the festival.
The full programme can be found on poetryafrica.ukzn.ac.za. Tickets are available on Webtickets.
For more from Berea Mail, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also check out our videos on our YouTube channel or follow us on TikTok.
Click to subscribe to our newsletter – here
